Cripple word meaning and definition

[noun] someone whose legs are disabled
[verb] deprive of the use of a limb, esp. a leg; "The accident has crippled her for life"
[verb] deprive of strength or efficiency; make useless or worthless; "This measure crippled our efforts"; "Their behavior stultified the boss's hard work"

\Crip"ple\ (kr[i^]p"p'l), n. [OE. cripel, crepel, crupel, AS. crypel (akin to D. kreuple, G. kr["u]ppel, Dan. kr["o]bling, Icel. kryppill), prop., one that can not walk, but must creep, fr. AS. cre['o]pan to creep. See {Creep}.] One who creeps, halts, or limps; one who has lost, or never had, the use of a limb or limbs; a lame person; hence, one who is partially disabled. I am a cripple in my limbs; but what decays are in my mind, the reader must determine. --Dryden.
\Crip"ple\ (kr[i^]p"p'l), a. Lame; halting. [R.] ``The cripple, tardy-gaited night.'' --Shak.
\Crip"ple\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Crippled} (-p'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. {Crippling} (-pl?ng).] 1. To deprive of the use of a limb, particularly of a leg or foot; to lame. He had crippled the joints of the noble child. --Sir W. Scott. 2. To deprive of strength, activity, or capability for service or use; to disable; to deprive of resources; as, to be financially crippled. More serious embarrassments . . . were crippling the energy of the settlement in the Bay. --Palfrey. An incumbrance which would permanently cripple the body politic. --Macaulay.
\Crip"ple\, [Local. U. S.]
(a) Swampy or low wet ground, often covered with brush or with thickets; bog. The flats or cripple land lying between high- and low-water lines, and over which the waters of the stream ordinarily come and go. --Pennsylvania Law Reports.
(b) A rocky shallow in a stream; -- a lumberman's term.

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